Cedar Rapids man gets 60-year prison sentence for fatal 2013 stabbing

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Cedar Rapids man was sentenced last week to 60 years in prison for stabbing and killing Ronald Kunkle in 2013 for $2,000.

D Anthony Curd, 20, pleaded guilty in October to second-degree murder and second-degree robbery in Linn County District Court. He was originally charged with first-degree murder.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Mary Chicchelly ran Curd's sentences consecutively based on the aggravating circumstances of the crime and the level of violence and his 'indifference to life.” Curd violated his probation from another crime when he committed this murder so Chicchelly sentenced him to another five years but ran it concurrently with the 60 years.

Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden recommended the consecutive sentences. He said Curd will have to serve 70 percent of his sentence, or 42 years, before being eligible for parole.

Curd's 15-year-old girlfriend at the time, Daimonay Richardson, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in July for her part in Kunkle's murder. Richardson, now 16, is serving 25 years in prison.

In the October plea hearing, Curd admitted that he acted with 'malice aforethought” when he stabbed Kunkle, 22, and killed him in his apartment May 18, 2013. He also admitted it was his intent to steal the money and then kill Kunkle.

According to previous testimony in Richardson's case, she and Curd armed themselves with steak knives before going to Kunkle's home. Curd distracted Kunkle by playing beer pong while Richardson came up behind Kunkle and stabbed him in the neck. Curd then joined in the attack and stabbed Kunkle over 30 times in the head, neck, torso and right thigh.

Richardson told a judge she and Curd put Kunkle's body into the bathroom, opened the window and turned on a fan to conceal the crime. Richardson said she poured bleach over his body and in other areas of the apartment in an attempt to destroy evidence. Kunkle's body wasn't found by police until June 10, 2013.